This invention relates generally to a method of upgrading operating systems and, more particularly, to software for implementing the method of upgrading existing or installing new operating systems on data processors.
New operating systems (OS), such as Windows® Vista, appear every few years, and companies must make a determination about when the right time is to adopt the new platform and take advantage of the new environment. A historic challenge has not been in the value proposition of the new OS, but rather in the costs associated with adopting that OS. Since the days of Windows® 3.1, the costs of deploying the OS have rapidly outpaced the cost of the software, leading to an environment where companies are running at least one and sometimes two major revisions back in OS level. This disparity causes maintenance and compatibility issues, not to mention security risks as aging platforms are ridden until they are no longer supported by Microsoft®.
With these problems, there have been attempts to improve the deployment process. From significant improvements like the Windows Image Format to various tools and frameworks, Microsoft® has tried to enable IT organizations via the provision of multiple possible scenarios. This leaves the IT organization to stitch together those tools into a holistic deployment solution, implement it, maintain it, and educate their staff about the new process. Though empowering in that the IT organization can develop a truly custom solution based on these precepts, that end state is not often the one that leads to the lowest cost or the most efficient operation for most companies.
Success in the deployment game is a significant calculation, because success goes far beyond the result of a single piece of software distribution or the provision of free prescriptive architecture guidance. When dealing with a process that is as critical to the success of a company's IT infrastructure as OS deployment, it is imperative that all of the facets of this process are evaluated before choosing a strategic direction. A direction that will go far beyond the initial evaluation of “Can we use this to send out an image,” and morphs into a true analysis of how deployment can be converted from a necessary evil into a strategic process: one that rather than driving a cost center can be leveraged as a mechanism to prove the value of a truly optimized IT organization and utilized to drive business value back into the company.
Deployment is often considered, over-simplistically, by many as little more than a big software distribution. Such a definition does not take into consideration many factors. The migration to a new OS can cause a multitude of non-technical issues for a user-base. From training on the new OS usage to migration of data and configuration from the previous OS, the communication and information exchange between the technical team and the target users is beyond necessary: it is critical. Long considered a tangential, non-technical aspect of the process, time has proven that 80% of deployments will go over time estimates and over cost estimates due to these little things that are considered ‘non-technical.’
Further difficulties are encountered when a drive and/or a file on the data processor to be upgraded is encrypted. In order to move the encrypted data during OS upgrade and deployment, the drive or file needs to be first decrypted and then re-encrypted upon the deployment. This manual procedure generally requires the assistance of the encryption provider, thereby further complicating and delaying the deployment process.
There is an ongoing need for an improved automated process for upgrading and deploying a new OS for a data processor, and particularly a plurality of data processors in a network.